Blagojevich takes his case to Larry King?

Gov. Rod Blagojevich, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" tonight, discussed being arrested and handcuffed by FBI agents at his home Dec. 9.

"If they simply called," he said, "I would have been more than happy to go down and meet with them."

During the nighttime show after a day full of media appearances in New York, Blagojevich stuck largely to his message that he is the innocent victim of his political enemies.King noted that some of the comments from the federal wiretaps sounded "bad."

"Oh, of course it sounds bad," Blagojevich said. "But think about some of the private conversations you might have on the telephone. .... You can take all kinds of things out of context."

The governor is accused of trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama. King went over some of Blagojevich's alleged comments on tape when discussing the Senate seat.

" 'If they're not going to offer anything of value [for the senate seat]' ... that's pretty explicit," King said. "What does that mean other than give me something in return for something?"

"There's a million interpretations for what that could mean," Blagojevich said.

"Give me one," King said.

"I'd like them to help me pass a jobs bill," Blagojevich said. "I'd like them to help me pass health care. I'd ike them to help me pass a bill that I'm trying to get passed that protects homeowners who are getting kicked out of their house because of mortgage forclosures. That's being stuck because the special interests are controlling some of the legislative leaders who won't call those bills. I'd like them to help me hold the line on taxes, provide property tax relief."

At another point, the governor said he got 100 percent on a required ethics test for state employees. "And I'm not a genius," he added.